Strategic Moves (Stone Barrington 19)

“He’s quite right, I have,” Pablo said.

“Why?”

“Moishe Aarons wants me either in a Mossad interrogation facility or dead, and I don’t think he cares very much which.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because early this morning I walked down to the lake—I take a walk every morning—and I saw a boat being driven by Moishe himself. I don’t think he saw me, since I was partly behind a tree.”

“Oh, shit,” Stone said.

“Exactly,” Pablo replied.

FIFTY-EIGHT

Stone tried to think of what to do. “Pablo, how did you get away from the Washington market?”

“One of my security people met us out back with a rental car and drove us here. He’s gone, now, to return the car.”

“Then Lance will soon find out about the rental car. What happened to the other one?”

“My other security guard returned it to Newburgh.”

“Where do you want to go, Pablo?”

“To Switzerland.”

Stone shook his head. “No, Aarons knows about that house; he told me so. I imagine he already has people there.”

Pablo thought about that. “I have a friend who has a country house in the south of England. I have not been there for some years, so I have no noticeable connection to it.”

“You’re sure that Aarons isn’t aware of it?”

“I can’t see how he would know about it,” Pablo said. “As I said, I haven’t been there for a long time, and Aarons’s interest in me is very recent.”

“Where is your airplane?”

“At Gulfstream, in Georgia, having some avionics issues resolved.”

“How soon could you get it to the Northeast?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“There’s an airport near Washington called Oxford. It has a five-thousand-foot runway.”

“Wouldn’t Lance’s people be watching it?”

Stone shook his hand. “They will check it today, but Lance doesn’t have enough people around there to watch every airport. Anyway, since you have opted out of the surveillance he arranged, you have relieved him of the necessity to protect you. I’ve seen a G-Four take off from there, but probably not with full fuel.”

“I think we would need at least six thousand feet with full fuel.”

“Then have your people fly up from Georgia and land at Oxford but not refuel. That way, they won’t even have to stop the engines. You can land at Gander, in Newfoundland, and top off there.”

“That seems a good plan,” Pablo said.

“Can you get in touch with your friend in England?”

“I’ll call him now,” Pablo said. He produced a cell phone and made the call. A conversation in French ensued, then he hung up. “All arranged,” he said. “We can land at Blackbushe, in southern England, and he’ll have us met.”